What's It All About, Pat Metheny's forthcoming sequel to his first solo baritone-guitar effort, One Quiet Night, features classic tunes from songwriters like Paul Simon, Lennon & McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Henry Mancini. "With What's It All About," says All About Jazz, "Metheny's ability to think outside the box never comes at the expense of losing sight of it, making music that's easy and accessible, but with deeper layers simmering just beneath its calm surface." In a new video posted here, Metheny introduces the new album by performing a number of tracks and discussing the album's inspiration.
What's It All About, Pat Metheny's sequel to his Grammy-winning first solo baritone-guitar effort, One Quiet Night, features classic tunes from songwriters like Paul Simon, Lennon & McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Henry Mancini. The album is due out on CD one week from today, June 14, and on vinyl on June 28; both are available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store, along with a limited-edition print signed by Metheny. In a new video posted below, he introduces the new album by performing a number of tracks off and discussing the album's inspiration.
"A lot of the tunes that I picked for this are tunes that over the ten years or so that I've been bringing the baritone guitar out on the road with me that I would just play at a soundcheck and somebody would say, 'Wow, where can I get your version of that song? Where did you record this?'" Metheny recalls in the video. "And was like, 'You know, I've never recorded any of these.'"
Now he has, for What's It All About. Hear more of what Metheny has to say about it and hear song clips in the video here, and also at nonesuch.com/media:
All About Jazz reviewer John Kelman says that while the new album is similar to One Quiet Night, in its "one guitar, one tuning, no overdubs" structure, the new album "introduces a few changes to the mix," like the inclusion of his famed 42-string Pikasso guitar.
"Metheny always confounds the ear with his apparent ease at coaxing a variety of tones and textures from this instrument that, for most, would be impossibly unwieldy," writes Kelman. "Tuned specifically around the song's harmonic center, Metheny is able to create a rich weave, combining occasional bass lines with strummed open strings and a Gu Zheng-like frontline melody."
He gives other songs a similar treatment using a six-string acoustic guitar or a nylon-string guitar.
"With What's It All About," Kelman concludes, "Metheny's ability to think outside the box never comes at the expense of losing sight of it, making music that's easy and accessible, but with deeper layers simmering just beneath its calm surface."
Read the complete review at allaboutjazz.com.
---
To reserve a copy of What's It All About on CD in the Nonesuch Store, click here; for the vinyl, click here. All orders include a free instant download of the album track "Alfie" at checkout and high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album starting release day.
---
Metheny participated in the Fourth Annual World Science Fair in New York City last Saturday for a performance and panel discussion, moderated by WNYC's John Schaefer, examining what goes on inside the brain as music is being created. The event included musical examples of Metheny's masterful musical mind at work as he performed along with drummer Larry Grenadier and engaged in discussion with leading scientist/musicians. Read the New York Times's extensive coverage of the event at nytimes.com.
- Log in to post comments
